Waihi to Te Araroa

Prelogue - Sat 26th Feb

Waihi to Te Araroa

After a check on the latest from Christchurch, a look at the long range weather forecast, some last minute organising and rushed packing we finally headed out of Waihi about nine this morning.

The situation is Christchurch is tragic and we’ve all discussed how it feels a bit wrong to be heading off on an adventure when so many people are suffering and close friends are struggling day to day. Out thoughts are with you always. Wish you were here…

The drive east was reasonably straight forward. We met up with Keith and Kel in Te Puke where we had our first break. They’re doing it real tough, glamping in Keith’s Mercedes glamper van! We’re in tents. It was great to get to the Motu Road turnoff and finally be on new road (for our family), it really felt like the adventure had begun.

My initial impressions of the East Coast Road were - “hmmm, there are a few more ups and downs than I was able to identify on Google Earth“. Maybe I should have sprung for the 3D Pro version? I hope we can sustain my estimated 25km/hr average or we’ll be in for some long days. It’s going to be tricky to draft and get into any rhythm too. However it’s very picturesque so at least by going slow we’ll get to appreciate the countryside more.

We’ve seen several ‘scenes’ from the movie Boy already - the pace of life has slowed, making it easy to get into holiday mode. Nothing wrong with that!

We did a quick reckie out to the Cape after checking in to the Te Araroa Motor Camp. We needed to check how long it will take to drive out there tomorrow and look for things we hadn’t allowed for that might foil our plan. There were none - but it’s going to be a 4am wake up call tomorrow if we’re going to be at the lighthouse in time to see the sunrise - ouch. I’m not sure Adam and Reid realise there is in fact a 4 in the morning!

Oh yeah, it’s raining so I hope we actually get to see the sun… ha.